In the concluding chapter of American Mainline Christianity: Its Changing Shape and Future, Wade Clark Roof and William McKinney predicted this: The churches of the Protestant establishment, long in a state of relative decline, will continue to lose ground both…
Teacher! The media farted!
We’ve all heard it. The Christian Right says our social ills are rooted in the “lamestream media.” The Left jumps on the media-bashing bandwagon when the subject is outlets like Fox News. You can bet your home theater that legitimate…
What it means for the church to live toward ‘one’
The world continues to change — but it didn’t used to seem like it did. Back “in the day,” it seemed to me that there was a great deal of consistency in the life of the church. Growing up in…
Psychedelics offer a path for healing the church should join
In the midst of our current mental health crisis, the Christian church, its leadership and members should be deeply curious about the renewal of widespread cultural interest in psychedelic healing and the possibility for ministry within it. While the so‑called…
Whiny ministers becoming tour guides
Alchemists, lamplighters, town criers, pinsetters, phrenologists, travel agents, switchboard operators and video store clerks have given up on finding their jobs listed in the classifieds. Some jobs disappear, but most jobs just change. Journalists have to learn to manipulate social…
The ghost of Joshua haunts us all
Like most people, I was not aware of the graphic violence so vividly and proudly recorded in the Book of Joshua. I was even more surprised to learn the savage invasion of Canaan was sanctioned by the venerable Moses and…
When ‘it takes two to tango’ is bad marriage advice
It’s a great visual image often used in sermons and pastoral counseling: If you want to dance the tango, you need two able dancers working together. This is true when applied to spouses working together in love, but there is…
Letter to my mother, my pastor
Dear Momma, Every March the church pauses to name Baptist Women in Ministry Month. Churches host panels, women write articles, women fill pulpits and deliver sermons about the long road women have walked just to stand behind a pulpit as…
Greed runs wild in the United States of Avarice
We are witnessing the monstrous effects of the deadly sin of greed (or avarice) today in our nation. Writing on this sin, Phyllis Tickle says greed is the most social and most political of the seven deadly sins. Here are…
We’ve lost one more person who could say, ‘I was there’
On Friday, our nation bid its final farewell to a Civil Rights icon. As thousands of mourners poured into House of Hope Baptist Church in Chicago to remember Jesse Jackson Sr., I was reminded of my own powerful moment with a…
Alabama is about to execute a man who did not kill anyone
The state of Alabama is scheduled to execute Sonny Burton on March 12. An execution in Alabama is not unusual. Since 2016, the state has executed 73 people. Gov. Kay Ivey has granted clemency one time in almost 10 years…
Our culture worships success; the Epstein Files reveal the cost
Like many of you, I have followed the disturbing reports surrounding the Epstein case. Behind every headline are women who were exploited and abused. Many have shown extraordinary courage in coming forward and seeking justice. Because powerful people across the…